My words cannot express the amount of agony, angst, joy, and pressure leading up to this day. The smoke has begun to clear, and another 90 days are barely seen in the distance. But, I can proudly say that I have walked up this hill with full efforts, 'all in'! The only way to continue climbing that huge mountain called LIFE is by continuing my growth in GYE through the Step Program. Though there have been many battles, the war has just begun... it is constant, every day a new page, but today is the beginning of a new chapter. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. A bright one.
Thank you GYE! Thank you Dad, Hashem, Master of the Universe! I couldn't have done it without you.
What helped the most was a close friend knowing exactly what I was going through, day in and day out. He also was notified if I had a fall. I was held accountable for all of my actions. Not in La-la land, but with a real person! The Taphsic method also helped a ton! The consequences were realized. If I fell, I was accountable. I had to 'pay up'.
The most successful method I have found is to bring other people into your world who you have to interact with every single week. You see them in shul, you see them sometimes during the week at davening, he's an angel looking out
for me. My Rov also knows on a high level what I am doing--he knows this is a challenge for me. He knows I am in the GYE program. This makes the impact real, it makes it hit close to home.
So for those of us who are not telling the closest people in our lives - our wives, our friends, our Rabbi's, our family - we are setting a Bor in front of our path, ready to fall into it. Our lives will become extremely complicated very quickly. We will be twisted in a web of secrets, constantly hiding from the closest people in our lives. We'd be fooling ourselves if we feel we are achieving greatness, growth through the program. Our best friend, the most important person in our life, is unaware of our struggles, our achievements, and our growth in overcoming what we've been put on this Earth to overcome. WE ARE THE SUPER SOLDIERS of this generation, this time in history. It's obvious. I need not say more.
All the best to my brothers. May we be successful in conquering this mission. The world depends on us. G-d, kaviyochel, depends on us.
J.L.